


In the Dark

by toyhto



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Blind Date, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:13:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23541379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toyhto/pseuds/toyhto
Summary: Lily knows the perfect guy for Sirius, Sirius knows a blind date is always a bad idea, and Remus knows he's not going to sleep with Sirius.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 183





	In the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VioletFolgi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletFolgi/gifts).



> I wrote this for @violetfolgi on tumblr, for Fanfiction Trope Mash-Up, and the prompt was Blind Date + PWP, which is... not my strongest suit, and also I feel like writing the blind date part in this, even though very briefly as I might add, put so much plot into it that... okay, so, I really liked writing it! Actually, I liked writing it so much I'm not completely sure yet that there couldn't be more chapters to this, but I guess we'll see about that (subscribe if you're feeling optimistic). It was so nice to write Remus and Sirius again and also it was so nice to write an AU setting with no Voldemort at all, in which these guys haven't had their lives wrecked by the damn war.
> 
> You can say hi to me on [tumblr](http://toyhto.tumblr.com)!

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” the boy said, which was what he had been saying the whole evening.  
  
“Okay,” Sirius answered for the tenth time. “Do you want tea?”  
  
“Yeah,” the boy said and frowned, “no, I don’t know.”  
  
Sirius went to the kitchen and put the charm on, just in case. He had a feeling that tomorrow morning, he was going to tell Lily never to set him up for a blind date again, but he didn’t know yet why. It could be that this would be a terrible disaster, or it could be that he’d be so fixed on the boy who wasn’t going to sleep with him that he couldn’t think about meeting anyone else. He pushed his hair back from his face and returned to the living room, where the boy was inspecting his bookshelf with a highly suspicious look on his face.  
  
Well, the boy had a name, too.  
  
“Remus,” Sirius said, “tell me. How’s my taste?”  
  
Remus turned to him, blinking. “What?”  
  
“In books. You’re clearly trying to evaluate if I’m worthy of your companionship or not. So, am I?”  
  
“Worthy? Of course you… I didn’t say you wouldn’t…”  
  
“What’s your favourite book?”  
  
Remus shifted his weight from one foot to another. “I don’t know.”  
  
“You don’t know?”  
  
“It’s not a simple question,” Remus said, looking unhappy. “There’re so many books that’re important to me, but they’re important in different ways, and I couldn’t decide…”  
  
“Well, mine is _The Lord of the Rings_ ,” Sirius said and tried to put on his best smile, but it was a bit tricky, because he actually wanted to impress Remus. Just in case this evening wouldn’t be a disaster. “Gays on the mountain and all that. Very relatable.”  
  
“They aren’t gay.”  
  
“And how would you know?” Sirius asked and grinned. “Come to the kitchen. I have tea.”  
  
He wasn’t exactly certain Remus would follow him, but Remus did. Great. He had the pot pour tea in two cups, and then they sat at the table and waited for the tea to cool down a little. Remus clearly didn’t know what to do with his tea that was too hot to drink, and he didn’t know what to do with his eyes, either, because he was looking at everything else besides Sirius. Sirius crossed his legs and waited. He would have to admit to Lily that at least Remus was cute as hell.  
  
When Lily had first told Sirius that he had a friend who was _perfect_ for him, he had laughed at her face. Everyone knew blind dates were a bad idea. But then Lily had told more about the boy: clever, liked books, really a bit of a nerd, did research on history of how the wizard community had treated other magical creatures, also loved Star Wars, didn’t go out much, and was the nicest person Lily knew. Sirius had asked her why _he_ wasn’t the nicest person she knew, and she had laughed at his face. Then she had added that Remus Lupin was the same age with them but had been home-schooled, so that was why he hadn’t been in Hogwarts.  
  
And it was stupid, really, but that was what had stuck with Sirius. Every wizard he knew had gone to Hogwarts. So, it wasn’t like there were a lot of options, if he wanted to meet someone who was gay, single, cute and clever, and wouldn’t freak out after realising that the furniture at Sirius’ flat moved on its own.  
  
So, finally he had told Lily that he’d be happy to meet Remus, if Remus wanted to meet him. Then he had spent two weeks regretting it, until today the date had finally happened, and he had regretted it a bit more, when Remus had been so nervous he hadn’t looked Sirius in the eyes once in the first half an hour. Sirius had been nervous as well, of course, he only hid it better.  
  
But then he had somehow begun to see other things well: how cute Remus was, and how clever, and how _odd_ in a way that was difficult to describe. And when they had finished their fish and chips, he had asked if Remus wanted to come over. Remus had looked at him as if he had told Remus he could fly without a broom or something. And then Remus had told him he wouldn’t sleep with Sirius. At that point, it had probably been the third or the fourth time.  
  
“So,” he said now. It would take a while for the tea to cool down and while it was lovely to just sit here and watch Remus being nervous, maybe some conversation wouldn’t hurt. “I hear that you aren’t going to sleep with me.”  
  
Remus flinched. “No, I –“  
  
Sirius tried not to smile too widely. “I’m just kidding. You’ve told me that at least ten times now, so I think we’ve got that covered.”  
  
“Ten times?” Remus asked in a small voice. “Really?”  
  
“Yeah. It was the first thing you said to me when you walked into the restaurant. Well, you said _I’m Remus Lupin_ and then _nice to meet you_ and then _I’m not going to sleep with you._ ”  
  
Remus grimaced. “Sorry. I’ve never been on a blind date before.”  
  
“Blind dates are the _worst_ ,” Sirius said, even though he wasn’t sure he had been on a blind date before, either. “But we aren’t complete strangers, are we?”  
  
“Aren’t we?” Remus asked, looking suspicious.  
  
“We both know Lily,” Sirius said. “So, she tells me you’re doing research on the treatment of magical creatures. How did you get interested in that?”  
  
“It’s just…” Remus swallowed. “I don’t know.”  
  
“Nothing personal on the subject?”  
  
Remus shook his head slowly.  
  
“Well, I personally don’t know what I’m going to do with my life yet,” Sirius said. “I’m working in this bar, _The Charming Corner_. It’s in the corner of the –“  
  
“I know the place.”  
  
“Oh, good.” Sirius blinked. “Have you seen me there?”  
  
“I don’t think so,” Remus said.  
  
“Because I usually work from Wednesday to Saturday. That’s when it’s the busiest.”  
  
“I don’t go there very often,” Remus said, “I just know the place.”  
  
“Okay,” Sirius said and took a sip of his tea. It wasn’t too hot anymore. “You can drink your tea now, if you like. So, my parents are pretty rich, and they have this family business I very much don’t want to get involved with, because it’s kind of… dark magic. And things are looking very well for me at the moment because no one in my family is talking to me, except for my gay uncle and my brother Regulus. And oh, my cousin Andromeda, who married a Muggle.”  
  
Remus nodded, drinking his tea. “So, you’re really one of those Blacks.”  
  
“Yeah. Didn’t Lily tell you?”  
  
“I didn’t ask.”  
  
“Lily told me you’re the nicest person she’s ever met,” Sirius said, watching Remus. He had long fingers. And then he _blushed_ , which was fucking adorable. “Tell me something. Why have you said ten times that you aren’t going to sleep with me?”  
  
Remus looked like he wanted to drown himself in the cup of tea. “Sorry. I just –“  
  
“I don’t mind,” Sirius cut in. “I don’t mind that you keep saying it and I don’t mind that you don’t want to sleep with me. Even though I would. Just so that you know, I would gladly sleep with you tonight if you wanted to.”  
  
“You…” Remus cleared his throat. “It’s not that I don’t want to.”  
  
Sirius hid his face behind his cup of tea. “Is that so?”  
  
“I just…” Remus rubbed his face. He had freckles. Oh, _damn._ “I didn’t want you to expect something that I couldn’t…”  
  
“You’re my blind date,” Sirius said, “I’m not expecting anything besides terrible misery, and that’s already ruined, because I like you.”  
  
Remus glanced at him. “Why?”  
  
“Because no one’s ever told me that many times that they aren’t going to sleep with me.”  
  
“I have issues,” Remus said, but he was staring at Sirius now in a way that made Sirius vaguely hopeful.  
  
“I have issues, too,” Sirius said.  
  
“My issues are worse,” Remus said, looking like he genuinely thought so.  
  
Sirius grinned. “You can’t know that.”  
  
“Oh, I know that.”  
  
“Well, there’s only one way to know,” Sirius said and pulled his shoulders back. Some people had told him he had nice shoulders. “We should go on another date.”  
  
Remus stared at him for a long time. “My issues are very bad.”  
  
“Okay,” Sirius said.  
  
“And I’m not going to sleep with you,” Remus said.  
  
  
**  
  
  
“You said you weren’t going to sleep with me,” Sirius said. He was lying on his back, his thighs sprawled on the mattress. Remus was kind of leaning on him. They had had a short fight about whether to keep the lights on or not, and Sirius had lost, about which he was a bit bitter. He really needed to know if Remus had freckles on other places as well.  
  
“Shut up,” Remus said and kissed Sirius on the mouth. He kissed like boys kissed in the broom closets in Hogwarts, when they weren’t yet sure why they were doing it: fast like they were running out of time. Sirius didn’t care, though. He just wished Remus already knew he liked men.  
  
“You’re gay, right? Or something like that? You like men?”  
  
“Yeah,” Remus said and grabbed his fingers around Sirius’ cock, “yeah, I’m gay. What did you think I was doing in here?”  
  
“I don’t know. You seem like you’re in a hurry.”  
  
Remus let go of Sirius cock and pushed himself up on his elbows.  
  
“No,” Sirius said, “no, no, _no_ , I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean for you to _stop_ , I just… You were very clear about not wanting to fuck me and now you’re kissing me more hastily than Rabastan Lestrange at my fifteenth birthday when we both were scared that our mothers would find us and disown us. In the best scenario. And I don’t mind the haste, really, this is all very nice, I just… I don’t want you to fuck me and then tell me you’re a straight man who just likes cock.”  
  
“I’m not going to tell you that,” Remus said.  
  
Sirius blinked. “Are you going to think that, though?”  
  
Remus swallowed and then reached down in between Sirius’ thighs again and took his cock in a firm grip. “No. I’m gay.”  
  
“Good,” Sirius said and closed his eyes, “great, because I’d hate it if you told me that you have, I don’t know, a wife and a few kids and… oh, _shit_ , are you trying to make me come?”  
  
“Yes?” Remus asked, his fingers growing bolder on Sirius’ cock.  
  
“Yeah, but – _shit_ that’s good, I just – can you slow down?”  
  
“Yes,” Remus said, but didn’t.  
  
“I don’t want this to be over,” Sirius said.  
  
It probably was the right thing to say, because Remus slowed down a little. Sirius took a few sharp breaths and then put his hands on Remus’ arms. The skin there was… it was probably scarred. He couldn’t see much in the dark, but it felt scarred under his touch. Maybe Remus had been in an accident. Maybe he was shy about it and that was why he had demanded they’d put the light charms off.  
  
“Tell me what you like,” Sirius said, running his palms up and down on Remus’ arms. Later, when Remus would trust him more, they would do this again, with the lights on. And then he would see everything. He would probably spend fucking _ages_ just looking at Remus and taking it all in. It’d be perfect.  
  
“I don’t know,” Remus said in a small voice.  
  
“Tell me what you like in bed. Because I’m pretty flexible, I mean, there’re things I don’t particularly like, but I might be willing to try something, for you, and also there’s a lot of stuff that I do like, and –“  
  
“I don’t,” Remus said and pressed the flat of his palm against Sirius chest, “I don’t usually… people don’t usually ask.”  
  
“So,” Sirius said slowly. It was oddly intense, breathing when Remus had a hand on his chest. “So, you usually sleep with idiots, then.”  
  
He thought he could see Remus smiling, but he couldn’t be sure. “Not exactly. I don’t… I rarely do this.”  
  
“Okay.” Sirius took a deep breath. It was like Remus’ hand got heavier. Oh, shit, he’d never realised he liked feeling helpless, but this… “Can you wrap your fingers around my throat?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Lightly. You don’t have strangle me or anything. I just want to try.”  
  
“I’m definitely not going to strangle you,” Remus said but moved his hand, placing his fingers carefully around Sirius’ neck.  
  
Sirius swallowed and could feel it against Remus’ fingers. “Noted. So, is that… do you mean that you rarely sleep with anyone?”  
  
Remus was silent for a long while. He wasn’t squeezing at all, his hand just was there, light and steady, and still Sirius could feel the tension slowly building inside of him. “Yeah.”  
  
“Is that why you said you weren’t going to sleep with me?”  
  
“Probably,” Remus said and rubbed Sirius’ chin with his thumb. “And you’re pretty.”  
  
Sirius laughed.  
  
“I mean it,” Remus said, running his other hand down on Sirius’ chest. “Can I?”  
  
“Yeah,” he said and closed his eyes as Remus took his cock in his hand again and started jerking him off in a focused rhythm. “Can I touch you?”  
  
“Maybe.”  
  
“Please.”  
  
Remus’ fingers disappeared from Sirius’ throat, and then Remus guided Sirius’ hand until he had his fingers wrapped around Remus’ cock. He wanted to see it as well. He wanted to see everything. “I need to tell you something,” Remus said, pushing the hair back from Sirius’ face. “I can’t have you on me.”  
  
“You aren’t going to want me to fuck you,” Sirius said. He sounded a little breathless but that was probably expected, considering that Remus was speeding up his hand. “That’s alright.”  
  
“No,” Remus said, “no, I mean… maybe. Yeah, maybe I’m not going to. But I can’t be… I can’t feel like I’m trapped. Physically. I can’t stand it.”  
  
Sirius took a deep breath. He wished it didn’t sound like a moan, because this felt like a serious conversation. “Okay. Just remind me if I forget. But I’ll try to remember that.”  
  
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Remus said in a thin voice.  
  
“Well, I have this fantasy,” Sirius said, “I have this fucking fantasy that I’m going to get fucked on the kitchen table in our house, I mean, in my family’s house. How fucked up is that? And it’s specifically the kitchen table, not my room or anything, and I’m on my back, you know, my legs sprawled over the edge of the table, and someone, I don’t know, just pushing into me, and I’m not imagining my mother to see it or anything, but… So, really, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Must be the upbringing.” He opened his eyes. He couldn’t see much, but he was pretty sure Remus was smiling a little and also looking at him. “Hello.”  
  
“Hello,” Remus said. “You can go a bit harder.”  
  
“Like this?”  
  
“Yeah,” Remus said with a sharp breath. “I’m not going to… last long. It’s been a while.”  
  
“That’s alright.”  
  
“So, if you want me to… if you want anything else, maybe you…”  
  
“Can you hold me down by my throat again? And maybe just… Are you close?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Then squeeze a bit more.”  
  
“Yeah –“  
  
“I like you,” Sirius said and closed his eyes. His words trembled against Remus’ grip on his throat. “I like you so much. You’re like this weird thing I never knew I needed in my life but now I do. Do you have freckles everywhere?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Liar,” Sirius said, and then he came.  
  
  
**  
  
  
In the morning, he woke up to the sounds of rain and someone breathing next to him on the bed. He rolled onto his side. Remus was right there, the duvet tugged all the way up to his chin, and he was looking at Sirius.  
  
“Do you want tea?” Sirius asked. “Or coffee?”  
  
“Coffee’s fine,” Remus said.  
  
“Sex?”  
  
Remus smiled a little. “I thought… maybe, if you aren’t in a hurry… maybe a little later.”  
  
“Sounds good,” Sirius said and climbed off the bed.  
  
They had coffee in the living room as the rain grew harder behind the windows. He didn’t say anything about the scars on Remus’ arms, but now he was wondering if they were everywhere. Like freckles. One day, he’d kiss all of them and Remus would want him to. But for now, he sat on the sofa, drinking coffee, and his left hand was resting on Remus’ thigh. Remus didn’t say much but didn’t leave, either. And before they had finished coffee, Sirius sent Lily a message saying that the date had been a success and his heart was now screwed and if he was going to get it broken, it was purely her fault.


End file.
